Here’s Our First Look At Batman Ninja

How is Warner Bros’ upcoming venture into anime, Batman Ninja, looking? In a word, fantastic. The first trailer was released today….care to watch?

Batman Ninja is being directed by Jumpei Mizusaki, who previously worked on JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The characters were designed by Afro Samurai creator Takashi Okazaki. Plot is this: Batman, his friends and several of his villains have been transported to medieval Japan. The Joker immediately hatches a plan to alter events of the past and change history, and it’s up to Batman to stop him — in a dramatic fashion filled with speed lines, elaborate outfits, and impossible feats of kung-fu.

One unexpected element: the entirety of the film is being animated with 3D cel-shaded models, as opposed to the flashy detailed 2D everyone pictures when they think of anime. However, this doesn’t appear to have affected the overall energy of the scenes being shown. The characters move a bit more stiffly, granted, but Mizusaki is pulling off some amazing eye-punching shots with the tools he’s working with.